W216 CL500 - common problems and boot space!
Discussion
Hi,
Just a couple of questions....is the boot on these big enough to fit a bike in the back, if you remove the wheels?
What are the common problems with the CL500 model? Being a big heavy car, I'm assuming they're heavy on suspension bits and tyres....but any particulars worth looking for?
Thanks
Just a couple of questions....is the boot on these big enough to fit a bike in the back, if you remove the wheels?
What are the common problems with the CL500 model? Being a big heavy car, I'm assuming they're heavy on suspension bits and tyres....but any particulars worth looking for?
Thanks
I bought an '07 CL500 (W216) in June
Things to look out for:
7G-tronic issues - Not changing down automatically / refusing to go into reverse without switching off/on etc - Controller card issue and a £600+ fix at a specialist (including oil & filter change)
Serpentine pulley collapse - Plastic idlers become brittle / collapse and shred the belt which drives the water pump / alternator / PS pump and ABC suspension pump
ABC issues - Pulsation damper replacements seem common
Electronics - Loads of ECU's / Signal Acquisition Modules (SAMs) - If a drain line gets blocked up, it helpfully diverts water into the footwells, where the ABC controller unit resides (amongst other things) - Also, gadget faults - My Distronic Plus (radar cruise) doesn't work and needs some elaborate calibration tool that lives at MB Milton Keynes to fix (£££) - Wouldn't bother, but the 'normal' cruise control is linked and doesn't work as a result, which is a tad annoying on long motorway trips
My Multicontour (massage) seats also have an air leak and have shut down as a result - Probably not worth removing them / stripping / fitting new air bladders (Merc only sell as a complete set at £lots) - Oh, and the analogue clock won't work properly (some GPS error) and you can't set the time in the menu (although you can pull the -ve battery lead / reattach to align the clock to the correct time)
Engine seems to have a decent rep for reliability - Timing chain is robust etc
They're old cars now and many have been run on a shoestring - My car had a mix of budget brand tyres when I bought it, and they're not cheap to replace (275/35/20 with the AMG kit rear rims), so budget for that (a set of Pirelli P Zero's were £600+ fitting)
They also don't like to sit for long periods - Work commitments meant mine sat for 2-3 weeks several times after purchase, resulting in a few minor niggles afterwards (sticking wing mirrors / erroneous warnings) - Have been using it several times a week for the past few months and it's behaving fine now. Whatever you do, don't let the battery go low / flat, as it throws a ton of error codes up - Having an indy with access to a Star / Xentry system (MB diagnostic software) is a must.
Other things - They're huge (5m+ long / 2.2m wide), so parking can be tricky. Very wide, so it's easy to kerb the wheels. I've averaged about 22mpg - More like 16mpg in town, but had it up to 26-28mpg on a steady 70mph motorway run. Huge fuel tank - Over £110 to fill up...
...but it's an awesome big beast - V8 rumble is lovely, surprisingly agile round the bends and a super smooth thing to cover big distances in.
Things to look out for:
7G-tronic issues - Not changing down automatically / refusing to go into reverse without switching off/on etc - Controller card issue and a £600+ fix at a specialist (including oil & filter change)
Serpentine pulley collapse - Plastic idlers become brittle / collapse and shred the belt which drives the water pump / alternator / PS pump and ABC suspension pump
ABC issues - Pulsation damper replacements seem common
Electronics - Loads of ECU's / Signal Acquisition Modules (SAMs) - If a drain line gets blocked up, it helpfully diverts water into the footwells, where the ABC controller unit resides (amongst other things) - Also, gadget faults - My Distronic Plus (radar cruise) doesn't work and needs some elaborate calibration tool that lives at MB Milton Keynes to fix (£££) - Wouldn't bother, but the 'normal' cruise control is linked and doesn't work as a result, which is a tad annoying on long motorway trips
My Multicontour (massage) seats also have an air leak and have shut down as a result - Probably not worth removing them / stripping / fitting new air bladders (Merc only sell as a complete set at £lots) - Oh, and the analogue clock won't work properly (some GPS error) and you can't set the time in the menu (although you can pull the -ve battery lead / reattach to align the clock to the correct time)
Engine seems to have a decent rep for reliability - Timing chain is robust etc
They're old cars now and many have been run on a shoestring - My car had a mix of budget brand tyres when I bought it, and they're not cheap to replace (275/35/20 with the AMG kit rear rims), so budget for that (a set of Pirelli P Zero's were £600+ fitting)
They also don't like to sit for long periods - Work commitments meant mine sat for 2-3 weeks several times after purchase, resulting in a few minor niggles afterwards (sticking wing mirrors / erroneous warnings) - Have been using it several times a week for the past few months and it's behaving fine now. Whatever you do, don't let the battery go low / flat, as it throws a ton of error codes up - Having an indy with access to a Star / Xentry system (MB diagnostic software) is a must.
Other things - They're huge (5m+ long / 2.2m wide), so parking can be tricky. Very wide, so it's easy to kerb the wheels. I've averaged about 22mpg - More like 16mpg in town, but had it up to 26-28mpg on a steady 70mph motorway run. Huge fuel tank - Over £110 to fill up...
...but it's an awesome big beast - V8 rumble is lovely, surprisingly agile round the bends and a super smooth thing to cover big distances in.
I bought a 63 plate one in March with the 4.7 Bi engine.
Bloody love it. Can't think of another car with so much grace and pace for the money.
Problems
Needed a new set of disc's and pads up front as well as two new front tyres. But they're consumables you'd have on any car.
Air con stopped working. Called out an indy specialist and he fixed it with a reset £60.
The only other issue is a bit of annoying vibration noise that comes and goes but only after a long journey. No one else notices it but me as I'm super sensitive to strange car noises. Thought initially it might be an exhaust guard or something but it's been up on the ramps and they couldn't find anything and it wouldn't replicate when I was there. So could be a bugger to track down.
Boots pretty much the same size as an S-Class to answer your original question.
Bloody love it. Can't think of another car with so much grace and pace for the money.
Problems
Needed a new set of disc's and pads up front as well as two new front tyres. But they're consumables you'd have on any car.
Air con stopped working. Called out an indy specialist and he fixed it with a reset £60.
The only other issue is a bit of annoying vibration noise that comes and goes but only after a long journey. No one else notices it but me as I'm super sensitive to strange car noises. Thought initially it might be an exhaust guard or something but it's been up on the ramps and they couldn't find anything and it wouldn't replicate when I was there. So could be a bugger to track down.
Boots pretty much the same size as an S-Class to answer your original question.
E65
Here's my thread on CL500 W216 ownership... a few others have chipped in too.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Here's my thread on CL500 W216 ownership... a few others have chipped in too.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Edited by AndrewCrown on Thursday 14th November 18:36
AndrewCrown said:
E65
Here's my thread on CL500 W216 ownership... a few others have chipped in too.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Here's my thread on CL500 W216 ownership... a few others have chipped in too.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Edited by AndrewCrown on Thursday 14th November 18:36
Beautiful car there!
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